Feed trays or bowls for feeding animals are generally known. Also known are animal feeders which are comprised of two or more sections as well as bowl feeders which include means for repulsing or trapping insects seeking access to the bowl portion.
The problem of insects intruding into the feed bowls of animals is a great problem. In the southern areas of the United States, it is quite common for fire ants to crawl up the side of the feed bowl and enter into the food containing area of the feed bowl. As such, when a pet desires to eat food from his bowl, the ant may sting the mouth of the pet or otherwise injure the pet. It has been found that the stinging of an animal's mouth by an insect within the feed bowl will tend to discourage the animal from receiving food from such a feed bowl. Often, the stings of fire ants, and other insects, can be injurious and even fatal to the pet.
Prior attempts have been made of isolating the food from the insects. Unfortunately, many of these prior art attempts have been ineffective in preventing the intrusion of insects into the bowl. Also, the mechanisms used for preventing the intrusion of insects into the feed bowl have been both complicated, messy, difficult to utilize, and otherwise inconvenient. Further, and additionally, since the cost of an animal feed bowl is of concern to pet owners, it is preferable to design such an insect proof feed bowl which is not costly to manufacture or sell.
Another common problem for pet food bowls is that they are commonly knocked over, thereby spilling food or water everywhere. If the pet food bowl is of a type that is suitable for preventing insect intrusion, then the bowl is usually pushed so as to be adjacent a surface that acts as a bridge for insects. As such, it was felt to be important to design an insect-proof pet bowl that could be fixed in position.
A major problem for most outdoor pet food bowls is the intrusion by slugs. Slugs will commonly crawl along the ground and crawl through the pet food bowl. Such slugs carry with them the risk of disease and contamination for the pet. Additionally, slug intrusion is likely to cause unsightly slime to occur across the body of the pet food container.
During times of transport and storage, it is possible for much of the pet food to spill over the side of the bowl. It is desirable to have a convenient way to contain the pet food in the bowl during transport. Additionally, with conventional pet food containers, it is difficult to properly, stack and store a large number of such containers. They are not particularly designed so as to present a convenient stackage and storage configuration.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an insect-proof pet food container that effectively prevents the intrusion of non-flying insects and pests into the food area of a feed bowl.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a pet food container that can be easily stacked and stored.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a pet food container which has nestable components.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a pet food bowl that is generally slug-proof.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a pet food container that is easy to utilize, easy to assemble, and inexpensive to manufacture.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a pet food container that can be conveniently fixed to a surface.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a reading of the attached specification and appended claims.